Elevator-boot bearing.



y PATBNTBD MAY 14, 1907. W. R. GUNNINGHAM. ELEVATUR BOOT BEARING.

APFLVIGATION FILED 113.16. 1907.

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UNITED sTATEs A PATENT oEEIoE.

AMERICAN CLAY MACHINERY COMPANY, OF BUCYRUS,

CORPORATION.

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ELEVATOF'l-BOOT BEARING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 14, 1907.

Application filed February 16, 1907. Serial Np. 357,739.

To @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM R..CUNNING HAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bucyrus, in the county of Crawford an State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Elevator-Boot Bearings, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in elevator boot bearings the essential object of the invention is to provide dust-proof bearings for the journal ends of the shaft of the lower guide pulley or drum around which an endless conveyor, in the form of a belt 'with buckets or cups passes,said elevator being designed for elevating loose material in bulk, such as ground cla coal, sand, wheat or other products.

Ylith the foregoing object in view, my invention consists of the parts and the constructions and combinations of parts which I will hereinafter describe and claim.

In the accom anying drawings forming part of this speci `cation and in which similar reference characters indicate like parts in the several views Figure 1., represents a side elevation of an elevator boot embodying my invention. Fig. 2, is a vertical cross-sectional view of the same on the line A-B of Fig. 1. Fig. 3, is a horizontal section on the line C-D of Fig.- 2.

In the accompanying drawings I illustrate my improvements in connection with a Well known form of elevator boot wherein 1 represents the parallel sides of the boot and 2 is a sheet metal or other bottom extending between the sides and suitably secured, said bottom being curved to hold the material from dropping out as the elevator buckets or cups, not shown, pass through the boot in the direction indicated by the arrow.

The shaft 8 extends transversely through the boot and beyond the outer sides thereof, and has fixed to it by means of set screws,

the usual spiders 4 the outer ends of whose arms are enlarged transversely and made with fiat surfaces and are recessed to receive the ilat bars 8, which are securely bolted or riveted to said arms. This construction substantially forms a broken-rirn reel' or drum, as distinguished from a solid-rim drum, around which reel or drum the usual conveyer belt, not shown, passes and is guided in its travel through the boot.

The sides, 1, of the boot are made rigid with appropriate housings of the character hereinafter described, said housings adapted to form guides for the vertical movement of the boxes or bearings 9, l0, in which the .journal ends of the shaft are mounted, the

adjustment of the boxes being effected by vertical screws 12 in the manner and for the purpose hereinafter set forth.

The mechanism heretofore described is more or less known in this art and therefore is not broadly claimed by me 5 it is described and shown to enable my improvementsto be better understood and which improvements relate primarily to an improved form of dustproof bearing for the machine in question and for all other machinesA of substantially like character.

As it is necessary in machines or devices of the character described to provide means for adjusting the drum or reel to take up the looseness or slack in the conveyer belt, it is correspondingly necessary to provide the sides of the boot with openings to admit the shaft being raised and lowered, and to prevent the dust and material working out 5 therefore in Fig. 2 I show the vertical slots or openings 13 for the said shaft.

To form movable closures for the openings 13 and prevent the leakage of the material therethrough and around the shaft, I bolt, rivet, or otherwise secure to the inner faces of the bearings or boxes 9, 10, the vertical plates 14 which extend a suflicient distance above and below the bearings to practically close the slots or openings 13 at any point of adjustment of the shaft 3 and its attachments, it being understood that the plates 14 are bored or otherwise formed with holes to ad- 1 mit the shaft, as shown at 17.

In the bottom of each of the bearings or boxes 9, 10, and just outside of its plate 14 is formed the o ening 18 which forms an outlet throughw ich any fine material which may sift through the openin s 13 and the hole 17, will escape to the outsi e of the boxes and be prevented from entering the bearings and cutting out the journals of the shaft.

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The inner ends of the boxes or bearings 9, i

10 are enlarged and chambered as shown at 22, and in each box or bearing immediately back of the openin 18 is placed a small plate 19 which is secured to the box or bearing by Y also pierced with a hole to receive t ymeans of a rivet or screw at 20, said plate belng pierced with a hole to admit the shaft 3, and said chamber 22 being filled with felt, waste, or other suitable packing that will absorb oil or other lubricant.

The portion of the box back of the chamber 22 forms the bearing proper for the journal end of the shaft, said bearing containing a lining. 27 of Babbitt metal or other antifriction wearing metal in contact with which the journal portion of the .shaft rotates; the outer end of the box is closed as shown at 26 and is covered or housed by a cap-piece 29 having a recess or chamber in which the outer end of the box or bearing is received and verticallyT guided when said box is moved up 0r down by means of the screw l2, before described, said cap piece 29 having lugs or iianges by which it may be bolted to the distance piece 31 as shown in Fig. 3. These parts form the essential parts of the housing beforementioned.

The intermediate portions of the boxes or bearings 9, 10, are provided with lateral flanges 28 which in conjunction with fianges 28 on the distance pieces 3l, form vertical guides for the boxes and serve to resist the lateral or end thrust of the shaft 3.

The distance piece 31 extends approximately the heightrof the side l of the boot casing; its upper end is closed by the plate 32 and its lower end is open at 33 to permit any particles of material working through or between the parts described, to pass outside of the machine.

The cover or cap plate 29 is ierced at the top to admit the pipe 34 whic pipe enters the box or bearing and will be connected with a suitable source of lubricant supply to feed lubricant for the journal of the shaft 3. The upper end of the cover or cap plate is e adjusting screw 12, and said cover plate has a seat or recess in which is placed a nut l2 through which the screw operates to raise and lower the shaft 3 and its adjunets, the screw being provided with an operating hand wheel, as

shown. y

The lower end of the screw is turned down at 35, and is inserted into a hole or cavity 36 in the top of the box or bearing, a groove 37 being made in the lower Unthreaded part of the screw and a hole being made through the box or bearing in register with the groove 37 and designed to receive a pin 39 whereby the screw is permitted to turn in its bearing but is prevented from pulling out of the box when the box is being adjusted ina vertical plane. v N

While have described but one specic box or bearing, it will be understood that the boxes at opposite sides of the boot are alike and that the description of one box applies equally to the other. V

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the drum or reel and its shaft 3 may be moved up and down toj'compensate for loo'seness or slack in thejelevatorjbeltgand that this may be done with little or no leakage of material through the guides or slots in which the shaft operates, or around. the shaft, and that whatever material may escape, is prevented from getting into the bearings proper and is conducted to the outside of the boot casing.

j Having thu's described my invention what I claim. as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. The combination with a casing and a shaft passing therethrough, said casing having vertical slots or openings in which the shaft may be vertically adjusted, of housings exterior to the outer sides of the casing, journal-boxes or bearings-in which the ends of said shaft are mounted, said boxes having closed outer ends and said housings being closed on their outer sides to form inclosed chambers in which the-outer ends of the boxes are contained, said chambers forming vertical guides for the boxes, .plates fixed to the boxes and extending parallel with the'outer sides of the casing, and adapted to serve substantially as cover-plates for the slots of said casing to prevent material escaping therethrough entering said boxes, and means connectin with the boxes for adjusting them and the shaft relative to said casing.

2. The combination with a casing and a shaft passing therethrough, said casing having vertical slots or openings in which the shaft is adjustable, of j our-nal-boxes in which the ends of the shaft are turnable, said boxes having vertical plates fixed to their inner ends and arranged parallel with the sides of the casing and extending above and below said shaft, and adapted to form movable cover-plates between said slots and the boxes, housings having closed outer sides exterior to the ends of the boxes and substantially inclosing said ends and vertically guiding said boxes, and adjusting screws j ournaled in the housings and connected to the boxes.

3.V The combination with a casing and a shaft passing therethrough, said casing having verticalslots in which the shaft is vertically adjustable, of distance-pieces secured to and projecting from the outer sides of the basing, journal-boxes for the ends of said shaft, said boxes being vertically movable in the chambers of the distance-pieces, recessed cover-plates secured to the distance-pieces and receiving and inclosing the outer ends of the journal-boxes, adjusting screws carried by the cover-plates and rotative-ly with the boxes, whereby said boxes may be raised and lowered, and plates secured to the inner ends of the boxes and lying parallel with thesidesof the casing, and serving as slidable cover-plates between the slots or openings in said casing and the inner ends of the boxes,

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said last-named plates receiving said shaft and extending above and below the same.

4. The combination with ra casing having parallel sides with vertical slots or openings made therein, a shaft extending across the casing with its ends projecting through said slots or openings, housings on the outer sides of the casing, journal-boxes in which the ends of the shaft are turnable, said housings forming inclosures.r and vertical guides for the boxes, means for raising and lowering the boxes and thereby adjusting the shaft in said slots or openings, plates fixed to the boxes and arranged parallel with the sides of the casing and adapted to serve as slidable cover-plates between the inner ends of the boxes and said slots or openings, said boxes each having a packed chamber with a plate guarding the entrance thereto, 'and having an opening in its lower side just outside of the slidable plates, to permit the escape of material which may leak through said slots yor openings.

5. The combination with a casing having vertical slots or openings in its sides, and a shaft extending across the casing with its ends assing through the slots thereof, journal loxes in which the ends of said shaft are turnable, said boxes having enlarged inner ends provided with chambers and having reduced and inclosed bearing portions beyond said chambers, packing material in said chambers and plates fixed in the open inner ends of the boxes and covering the packing, receiving said shaft and said boxes having openings in their bottom, for the escape of material outside the casing, distance-pieces said plates which the ends fixed to the casing and forming inclosures in which the boxes are slidable, said distancepieces being closed at the top and open below, cap-plates secured to the distance-pieces and having recesses for the closed outer ends of the boxes, vertical screws journaled in the cap-pieces and having their lower ends turnably connected to the boxes, xed nuts in the cap-pieces through which the screws operate to raise and lower the boxes and shaft, and plates secured to the inner ends of the boxes and arranged parallel with the outer sides of the casing and receiving said shaft, said lastnamed plates being movable with the boxes and adapted as movable covers between the inner ends of the boxes and the slots or 'openings in the casing. y

6. The combination with a casing having vvertical slots or openings in its sides, and a shaft passing across the casing and through said slots or openings, .of journal-boxes in of the shaft are turnably mounted, housings in which the boxes are vertically movable, a rotected packing at the inner ends of the oxes, plates fixed to the boxes and receiving said shaft, and adapted to form movable cover-plates between the slots or openings in the casing and the inner ends of the boxes, and means for raising and lowering said boxes and shaft.

In testimony whereof l have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM R. CUNNINGHAlVI.

Witnesses:

D. G. HIGHT, R. O. PERRoT'r. 

